Open AccessLongitudinal measurement invariance of memory performance and executive functioning in healthy aging
Author(s) -
Pedro Silva Moreira,
Nadine Correia Santos,
Teresa Costa Castanho,
Liliana Amorim,
Carlos PortugalNunes,
Nuno Sousa,
Patrício Costa
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0204012
Subject(s) - measurement invariance , equivalence (formal languages) , confirmatory factor analysis , psychology , factor analysis , longitudinal study , dimension (graph theory) , cognition , population , longitudinal sample , cognitive aging , portuguese , developmental psychology , statistics , mathematics , structural equation modeling , demography , pure mathematics , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy , sociology
In this work, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a battery composed of distinct cognitive parameters. A sample of 86 individuals (53.5% females; mean age = 65.73), representative of the Portuguese older population, with respect to sex, age and level of education was assessed twice over an average of two years. By means of a confirmatory factor analysis approach, we tested whether a two-factor solution [corresponding to measures of memory performance (MEM) and executive functioning (EXEC)] was reliable over time. Nested models of longitudinal invariance demonstrated the existence of partial strong invariance over time. In other words, this indicates that there is an equivalence of the factorial structure and factor loadings for all items; this was also observed for the item intercepts for all the items, except for one of the items from the EXEC dimension. Stability coefficients revealed high associations between the dimensions over time and that, whereas there was a significant decline of the MEM across time, this was not observed for the EXEC dimension. These findings reveal that changes in MEM and EXEC scores can be attributed to true changes on these constructs, enabling the use of this battery as a reliable method to study cognitive aging.